


Moonlight

by thebriars



Series: celestial [2]
Category: Victoria ITV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crushes, M/M, Mentions of Sex, drumfred is my new otp, minor language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-30 18:09:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13957140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebriars/pseuds/thebriars
Summary: Despite his attempts to approach the situation carefully and sensibly, Alfred found himself daydreaming about intelligent brown eyes and a smile that made him feel accomplished. Edward didn't smile nearly enough, Alfred decided. It was a small triumph, having made Edward smile so much. He felt smug to have done what Florence could not, but then felt stupid for being so superficial.--What happens next, from Alfred's POV





	Moonlight

**Author's Note:**

> I spent ten minutes googling bars in London and the salary of a PMs private secretary in the bathroom so
> 
>  
> 
> also I'm an American teenager writing about the English post secondary education system and the geography of London so this is most definitely inaccurate affff

~~~~It was only after Edward had shrunk from view that Alfred realized he never got his number.

He said this much to Victoria as the pair closed up, fingers hovering over the table where Edward had sat. Somehow, wiping the wood down felt like erasing Edward from the cafe all together. Alfred couldn't possibly do it, but Victoria was insistent on thorough cleaning, so he painfully washed it off anyway.

"Well, if he was really as into you as he looked, he'll come back." Victoria made it sound so simple. It was very nearly irritating, except for the fact that it was most likely true. They had once visited the same music store eleven times in as many days back when Ernst was crushing horribly on the cute cashier. Alfred had done his fair share of well-timed trips to bookstores and coffee shops and co-ops and libraries and everything in between, so it was certainly a possibility.

"Yeah, but it's not always that easy. Like, he's probably at work during my shift and he has a girlfriend anyway, so it's not really plausible." He gazed at Edward's mug in the dish rack, earning a light smack from Victoria's dish cloth.

"Come on, it'll be fine. I see seven children in your future, and they all have adorable hazel eyes," she said, a smirk crossing her face as Alfred sputtered helplessly for a moment.

"Um, hey, not everyone has the luxury of meeting your soulmate when you're five years old and most definitely single." Alfred went back to scrubbing a muffin pan, wondering what Edward was doing. Probably sitting down at a table for two in a nice restaurant and smiling at a pretty girl and forgetting all about poor, lonely Alfred.

As if she could read his mind, Victoria launched into a lecture on the benefits of finding love later in life (even though they were only twenty two and her statistics were obviously made up). Alfred signed out soon after and set on a course to class. It was horrendously boring- art history, but without any real substance. It did act as an excellent pre-sleep relaxer, however.

Alfred suffered through an hour and a half of monotonous drawling and an inhumane amount of Power Point slides with white backgrounds and black Arial font before he gave up and sunk into a trance in the back of the room. It seemed he was one of the last students to give in, judging by the silence. The room was devoid of even a rustling page or the click of a pen- truly soul-sucking, as the girl next to him had once put it.

The journey through the city did manage to reinvigorate Alfred, however little, but he spent most of the bus ride with his head pillowed on his arms, wondering if Edward and Florence sat in one of the passing restaurants.

He fell into his bed heavily as soon as he got home, but sleep came slow that night.

\--

Alfred didn't have a class until ten the next morning, so he picked up the morning shift. The cafe was only a few roads over from the very edge of campus, catering mostly to college students and the occasional passerby. He figured that the dash from the end of his shift to class was reasonable enough, and the recent shortage of workers after Ernst sulked back to Germany and Albert started his TA position at the university led to open shifts. Alfred wasn't exactly sure how many people worked at Kensington, but Victoria had talked about at least eight.

He awoke to a barrage of texts from Mina, who had apparently got the Edward story from Ernst, who had gotten it from Albert, who had of course gotten it from Victoria. Alfred yawned and rubbed the heel of his pal across his eyes to try to pull himself from the last brambles of sleep.

11:37PM  
MINA: listen here you lil shit answer my calls so you can tell me everything

11:37PM  
MINA: actually I have everything but Ernst tends to exaggerate

11:39PM  
MINA: are you even alive

11:39PM  
MINA: alfreddddddd

12:02AM  
MINA: I'm heading to bed but I'll continue this in the morning so watch out

\--

Edward did not appear at the cafe that morning, making the shift sluggishly boring and class even more so. How had the appearance of one guy in his life turned everything around? He'd answered Mina's texts on the ride to the cafe, more to vent and get advice than to satisfy her craving for information. Mina was a generally quiet person, reserved and always cautious of her actions and words. Alfred figured it had something to do with low self esteem and her suffocating home life. Nevertheless, Mina was always on board to work Alfred through his messy love life.

He couldn't tell if that was a blessing or a curse.

The lack of anything to do besides flip aimlessly through his phone under the counter and wait did give Alfred the time to ponder his situation endlessly, however.

Despite his attempts to approach the situation carefully and sensibly, Alfred found himself daydreaming about intelligent brown eyes and a smile that made him feel accomplished. Edward didn't smile nearly enough, Alfred decided. It was a small triumph, having made Edward smile so much. He felt smug to have done what Florence could not, but then felt stupid for being so superficial.

Victoria had given him knowing looks the whole morning, along with hinting comments every time the bumped elbows in the back room. It made Alfred's eyes roll, but it was admittedly sweet that she was so enthusiastic about his silly crush.

Now that class was over and Alfred had an hour ahead of him for lunch and contemplation, everything seemed much more bleak. An entire hour all to himself, to his thoughts and his worries, and then a class and an empty schedule for the weekend.

The walk to the sandwich shop at the student center was just long enough for the clouds hovering at the edge of the city to roll in and begin to dump their buckets on London. Alfred cursed for a moment in the sudden downpour, slipping into the cover of a nearby bus stop for a moment to pull output his jacket and shove it over his head to try and protect his backpack.

"Hey there."

Alfred jumped and cursed internally at the voice, both scared from his frustrated trance and sent into raptures from the fact that it was Edward.

"Hi Edward. Stupid storm, huh?" He met his eyes from under the makeshift umbrella, only to immediately abandon all hopes of doing this like any other human. Fucking fate, putting them both here under this bus stop shelter in rain that reminded him of that one scene in the Notebook-.

_No, no, don't go there._

Edward was digging something out from his messenger bag. "Yeah, I got caught coming off my lunch break. I wasn't planning on ruining these shoes today but here we are. Ah ha, an umbrella."

"Tough luck, man." Alfred winced. Either 'man' was completely and utterly platonic or an obvious attempt to be platonic. Edward was smart; he could probably see right through Alfred's vague shot at _we are friends and nothing else because you have a girlfriend and you are out of my league and my last boyfriend made it very clear that I am too needy and you are not interested anyway so it won't happen._

"Ugh, I know. Want to share? I don't know if your jacket will hold up." Edward looked so hopeful and adorable and genuinely kind at the moment that Alfred found himself agreeing before he realized the scope of his predicament.

"Yes, thank you. You're absolutely right." Alfred tucked the jacket over his backpack anyway, just to be safe, but gratefully ducked under Edward's black umbrella.

Well, the umbrella was small. Alfred refused to push part of Edward out into the rain and vice versa, which meant that the ended up in particularly close quarters, Edward's hand on Alfred's shoulder and the other one enclosed in both of Alfred's on the handle. They dashed towards the student center, which happened to be in the direction of Edward's office anyways. Alfred found himself less concerned with how his feet had no traction on the concrete and more so with Edward's laugh.

And they were laughing. Alfred sought out Edward's happiness like a drug. Mina had said once that trying to get Ernst to love her back was like jumping to grab onto a bar covered in butter- she could reach it, but her fingers always slipped and she ended up back on the ground. And then the ground opened up and she fell in and got crushed, and then Alfred got up to get ice cream while Victoria awkwardly hugged a sobbing Mina.

It was nothing like that with Edward. He had his hands solid on the bar.

Now he just needed to get to the next one. Monkey bars were not Alfred's strong suit.

\--

Edward dropped Alfred off under the canopy over the entrance, eyes matching his grin and his cheeks rosy from their run through the chilling rain. Alfred's hand lingered on the umbrella, eyes locked on Edward's,

"I don't have your number."

"Neither do I," Alfred breathed. Thank _God_ he didn't have to be the one to bring it up.

Edward dug his phone out of his pocket. Alfred entered his number and Edward insisted on a quick picture for his profile. Alfred hoped he looked okay, but impromptu pictures in a downpour never really turned out well.

Watching Edward walk away was exactly like falling off the monkey bars.

\--

4:22PM  
UNKNOWN: Hey Alfred, it's Edward

4:27PM  
ME: hey!

4:27PM  
ME: I didn't get the chance to ask earlier but how was ur date?

4:29PM  
EDWARD: Ehh it was about as good as you might expect

4:30PM  
EDWARD: Actually i broke up with her

4:30PM  
ME: wow

4:31PM  
ME: I'm sorry but also proud of you

4:33PM  
EDWARD: Thankss

4:33PM  
EDWARD: It was only a little messy. Like she cried and yelled a little but the yelling was also about how she knew it was coming bc she apparently knew I didn't love her

4:34PM  
ME: youch

4:34PM  
ME: at least you did it now and not ten years later when you're married and have twelve kids and a house

4:36PM  
EDWARD: Haha yeah

4:39PM  
EDWARD: Hey do you want to go out for a drink tonight?

4:41PM  
ME: that sounds amazing!

4:41PM  
ME: when and where?

4:43PM  
EDWARD: mandarin bar at 6:30?

4:45PM  
ME: it's a date!

\--

Mandarin was very pricey.

Alfred realized this only when he looked up directions at six and then promptly went to rifle through his desk for spare bills.

Maybe he wouldn't buy anything and would just eat one of his granola bars on the way over. Alfred bit his lip. Edward had a fantastic job already (he'd googled how much money a PM's secretary would make and, after hunting through far too many government documents, he at least got the sense that it was a lot more than Alfred ever would with a degree in graphic design) and a promising career ahead. Alfred was going into debt to get a degree that was probably going to be a little bit useless. _Follow your dreams_ , he thought, bitter.

Yet another reason to add to the stack of 'reasons why this thing with Edward wouldn't ever work'.

The ride to Mandarin gave Alfred time to eat his granola bar and watch the sinking sun. He'd always loved the night. The view from the window bench in his little studio gave him the perfect place to gaze up at the moon when sleeplessness struck again.

He saw Edward as soon as he walked through the door, glancing down to check his phone. Alfred had just texted him to alert him to his arrival, so it was probably that. Alfred's heart sung when Edward smiled a little and then glanced up to search the door. He waved a little, which Alfred readily returned.

"Hi. You look really nice," Alfred said as he took a seat at the bar. Edward snorted.

"Thank you. You're one to talk."

Alfred filed the interchange into the 'well, he did say he liked guys so maybe' category in the rapidly growing binder of Edward Drummond.

Edward insisted on buying Alfred something, citing college and the shitty apartment Alfred had mentioned that day in the cafe. Alfred half-heartedly protested, but he was glad that he could keep his wallet in his pocket for now.

They found themselves back at the start, talking about movies and books and music and food and just about everything else. Their drinks came and Edward gently pushed Alfred's hand away when he tried again to slip in some cash of his own. It was good- fruity but not in a way that made it feel like Alfred was chugging Mina's perfume. He said as much to Edward, who asked about Mina, which led to Alfred slathering praise on all of his friends.

He talked about meeting Mina back in school and Victoria later on at Kensington, who in turn introduced him to Albert and Ernst from Germany. Ernst's strange fling with Harriet got her into their group as well, and Nancy and Charles darted in every once in a while. Edward seemed genuinely fascinated, but when Alfred asked about his friends, he shrugged lightly and asked about Alfred's year abroad.

Edward was full of questions but had no answers to Alfred's. It was quickly becoming apparent that Edward really didn't have much besides work and a family with more conflicting interests than Parliament itself.

Alfred promised himself that Edward would meet his rowdy circle of friends sometime soon, no matter how their relationship developed.

\--

Edward was apparently a man who insisted on being a gentleman. Besides the small debacle with the drinks, he insisted on walking Alfred home. The distance from the Tube stop to Alfred's studio was small but dark, shaded by tall buildings and lined with narrow alleyways. Alfred would never admit it, but it was pretty creepy. Having Edward beside him was surprisingly nice.

They took the stairs together- the elevator had been out of order for a year- and reached Alfred's apartment much faster than he would have liked.

Edward looked heavenly, caught in the moonlight seeping in from the window at the end of the hall, eyes aglow and features angular. Alfred unlocked the door, but hesitated and looked back to Edward.

Was it really even a date? Was it just new friends getting know each other? Alfred had paid bills for Mina back when she lost her job. He'd walked Harriet home when she lived on that sketchy cul-de-sac. It could totally be platonic.

But, fuck it. Alfred wanted Edward like nothing else and maybe- just maybe- Edward wanted him.

"Come in with me," he said, and then instantly regretted. "I mean, only if you want to. But, like, _please_."

A smile crossed Edward's face. "God, yes."

The rest of the night passed in a haze. Alfred's back against the door while he fumbled with the lock, Edward's mouth on his jaw. A stumbled journey across the apartment to the bed, sheets under him and Edward on top, a distinct lack of clothes, a storm of pleasure, and then he was riding the wave straight into sleep.

\---

Alfred woke up to sun slicing across his face. He peered out to see midmorning light sneaking around the drapes, but this revelation was quickly dimmed by the breath against his neck and the strong arms around him.

Goddammit.

He was being spooned by Edward Drummond, the best catch to walk through the doors of Kensington's since forever, the sweetest man Alfred had ever had the honor of meeting.

It was too good to be true.

He drifted back off into sleep, figuring that shifting around would just wake Edward up and disturb the adorable face he made while asleep (Alfred had craned his head to peer over his shoulder).

Eventually, Edward stirred. Alfred brought the back of Edward's hand up to his lips, letting the other know he was awake.

"Hi there."

Alfred might as well have been dead and gone. The morning voice Victoria had gone on about on multiple occasions really did exist.

"Hi yourself."

Neither said much as they rolled out of bed and found clothes, Edward back in the previous night's button up and Alfred in his gray sweatpants. The kitchen was only a few feet from the bed, but Alfred stumbled the distance anyway, stiff from over ten hours of the most restful sleep in a while.

"Waffles?"

"Of course."

Alfred stood awkwardly in the kitchen, making no move to get out a bowl, thoughts running rampant through his head.

_Just say it. Clear the air._

"I'm sorry that it played out like... this. I mean, I'm not sorry that we had sex because, God, Edward, you're good, but I kinda thought I'd take you on an actual date at least twice before." He rubbed the back of his neck, resorting to the nervous tick of his childhood.

Edward huffed. "I know. I thought the same. But, honestly, I like you a little too much to wait around for Cupid or something to push us together."

"You're amazing; you know that, right?" Alfred flashed a crooked grin, and then they were together and he lost all composure for a second.

"I mean," Edward started, nose brushing Alfred's and hands secure around his waist, "let's count the cafe as date one and the rain as dare two, and then last night was date three."

"Three dates in two days?"

"Did I mention that I like you a lot?"

Alfred laughed, pushing away for a moment to start on breakfast. "Waffles still good?"

**Author's Note:**

> welpppp
> 
> my beta is offline atm (yay spring break) so pleassse let me know if there are any grammatical errors I didn't catch  
> \--
> 
> I may be ace but I'm a hoe for comments <3


End file.
